1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a board game, and more particularly, to such a game involving matters relating to the legal and economic status of immigrants in the United States over time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many designs for board games have been developed in the past. None of them, however, relates to a game where the players take the place of immigrants"" difficulties and achievements in their search for the American dream by making choices, taking advantage of opportunities, learning lessons from experiences, and suffering the consequences of his/her actions
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,300 issued to Kiyosaki et al. on Aug. 22, 2000 for a game for teaching fundamental aspects of personal finance, investing and accounting to children. As in the present invention, the patented game involves the use of money and financial concepts. However, it differs from the present invention because the Kiyosaki""s patented game does not relate to the alternatives and/or options for immigrants as they develop themselves in the United States. The present invention also distinguishes itself from the prior art in that the players are initially categorized in one of several classes of immigrants (tourists, exile, etc.) with different legal status that will have an impact on his/her opportunities and consequences throughout the game. To overcome these initial handicaps or advantages, a player may decide to take more or less risks in his/her decisions. Some decisions (like drawing a card from a stack xe2x80x9cMoneyxe2x80x9d, instead of stack xe2x80x9cImmigrantxe2x80x9d) are more likely to involve a financial advantage. Alternate choices may provide educational, social or legal advantages that may have an indirect economic impact.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.
It is one of the main objects of the present invention to provide an instructive game for players to learn about the risks, choices and options that an immigrant has to affront when he/she immigrates to the United States.
It is another object of this invention to provide an entertaining game for children and adults while teaching them about immigration and money issues.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a game where the individual players"" rules may differ from each other depending on an initial aleatory event that classifies each player under one of several immigrant classes each with a unique initial legal status. These different classes carry different handicaps or advantages.
Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.